I was poorly positioned last night to watch the reactions of Sarah Palin's family to her big convention speech. But it turns out the TV feeds picked up several clips of little Piper Palin repeatedly doing this curious hand-licking-and-hair-smoothing thing to her baby brother Trig. I have nothing to say about this, except to observe that the Palins should be careful. They may believe that this is solely an ancient Alaskan tradition, redolent of outsiderhood and Regular American Values. Let us not forget, though, that in fact it's already in widespread use inside the elitist Washington establishment that Sarah Palin has pledged to attack: